Method and apparatus for controlling calling-party identification

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a system, method, and apparatus for managing the calling-party identification information offered to called parties. Accordingly, a caller can designate the Caller ID information to the called party based on the context of the call (e.g. the role of the caller) rather than the terminal used. Typically the calling party does this by selecting which of multiple values they wish to have sent with the call request. It is beneficial to implement such a mechanism in a secure manner—the ability to employ a different calling-number or calling-name ID should be restricted to properly-authorized and authenticated persons—in order to ensure the quality of this information. Accordingly, preferred embodiments include an authentication mechanism for verifying the calling party information is authentic.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 13/171,921, filedJun. 29, 2011, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLINGCALLING-PARTY IDENTIFICATION”, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No.11/379,595, filed Apr. 21, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,995,727, issuedAug. 9, 2011, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLINGCALLING-PARTY IDENTIFICATION” the entirety of both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telecommunication systems.More particularly, the present invention relates to systems which conveycaller identification information (Caller ID).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

“Caller ID” subscription services offer perceived value in allowingcalled parties to identify callers and thereby make informedcall-disposition decisions. In this specification, “Caller ID” meanscaller identification information and includes “Calling NumberIdentifier”, “Calling Name Identification”, and other variations used inthe field.

Existing services are focused on the “receiving end”—on manipulatingreceived calling-number and calling-name information, allowingautomation of incoming-call disposition according to user and/orbusiness policy. Disposition variables can include incoming Caller ID,time of day, current status (e.g. on the phone); service policytypically has a system default and can be tailored by the user.

The utility of these existing services relies on the accuracy andcredibility of calling-name identification information. The recipientneeds confidence that the calling-party's identification can be trusted.This is especially true for communications services where the endsystems are not under regulatory control. A PSTN subscriber loop isrelatively secure, and the calling-party identifier can generally betrusted; while it is possible to provide invalid calling-partyidentifiers, the problem is rare and the called party can have a highdegree of confidence in the information. Consequently, currentcalling-number and calling-name ID information is tied to theregistration (and sometimes, e.g. in the case of wire line services, tothe physical location) of the caller's terminal device, which typicallyhas one number associated with each subscriber loop.

Conversely, a poorly-managed, mis-configured, or maliciously-configuredVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system (e.g., one based on SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP)) can offer relatively-arbitrary calling-partyidentification information.

Today's service providers derive large amounts of revenue from Caller IDservices. Growth in remote and branch-office installations; and adoptionof Voice over IP (VoIP), and other situations where the identity of thecalling party may be obscured, threaten Caller ID accuracy and byextension that revenue stream.

One prior art system and method for authentication of calleridentification is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,271, issued Nov. 27,2001 to Sawyer et al., and assigned to the assignee of the presentapplication, which is hereby incorporated by reference. “Sawyer” isfocused on authenticating the identity of a calling party regardless ofthe location or terminal the user is calling from—the same identity canbe offered regardless of whether the user is dialing in from a payphone,from their residence, desk phone, or cell.

However, many people serve in multiple roles through the course of theday. One prior art Method and Apparatus for Providing User ControlledCall Management Services is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,636, issuedAug. 20, 1996 to Bannister et al., and assigned to the assignee of thepresent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference.Bannister deals with call management services, which allows a calledparty to have calls routed to different terminals. Bannister recognizesthat the Called party will have different roles, and will notnecessarily know whether a re-routed call to the called party's cellphone was originally destined to the called party's office phone or homephone. Accordingly Bannister teaches a method and apparatus for advisingthe called party of the role to which a received call was originallydirected.

These two inventions deal with, first, offering a unique callingidentity regardless of the nature of the originating device; the secondis focused on aiding the called party in managing incoming calls.

Reference is also made to US patent application by Steeves et. al.,filed Jun. 20, 2001 with Ser. No. 09/884,346, entitled Method forPrivacy and Personalization on IP Networks, and assigned to the assigneeof the present application, which is hereby incorporated by reference.None of these references aid a caller in controlling the outgoingcalling information to better represent the context of their call.

A person with multiple roles may want to make a call relating to onerole in a spare moment snatched from another, or while at home. Forexample, consider a physician who runs a private practice, maintains ahome office, has admitting privileges at a local hospital, andvolunteers at a local HIV clinic. In the struggle to keep up, shecatches up on her work in those various capacities whenever and wherevershe can. However, placing a call from one location, but relating to adifferent capacity or function (hereafter “role”), can inadvertentlyprovide misleading (and potentially private) information to the calledparty. Depending on what is displayed, the information delivered to thecalled party in the Caller ID field may have connotations which areinaccurate, potentially alarming, and may not offer appropriate privacyprotection.

In addition to creating opportunities for misunderstanding and poorcall-disposition decisions, the calling information may not be useful tothe called party—if recorded by a Caller ID device or voicemail, as thecalled party may not have the correct information to properly return thecall.

Many scenarios can be envisioned—for example, teachers calling parentsto report students' performance concerns would prefer to leave theschool's switchboard number than that of their own home telephone—andthe school number is more useful to the concerned parent.

Conventional systems allow some measure of privacy protection by beingable to suppress the Caller ID field. However, this typically results ina blocked number being presented to the caller, who may ignore the callin order to avoid telemarketers, which is problematic, especially forsituations where voice messages are inappropriate.

A preferable scenario might be to leave the number of the hospitalswitchboard for a hospital patient; or the doctor's private practicenumber for the call about his patient's annual physical; or the school'snumber for a teacher.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, desirable to be able to provide Caller ID informationwhich is attributed to the role (e.g., function) of the caller, ratherthan the device used by the caller. Thus the present invention providesa system, method, and apparatus for managing the calling-partyidentification information offered to called parties. Accordingly, acaller can designate the Caller ID to be conveyed to the called partybased on the caller's preference and assessment of the context of thecall. According to a preferred embodiment the calling party does this byselecting which of multiple values they wish to have sent with the callrequest.

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of operatinga first communication device connected to a communication network, thefirst communication device being operable with the communication networkto connect to a second communication device. The method comprises:initiating at the first device a call to the second device; receiving,from the network at the first device, caller identification options;presenting the received caller identification options to a caller at thefirst device; receiving from the caller at the first device, a selectionof a caller identification option; and sending to the network anindication of the selected caller identification option to determinecaller identification information presented to the second communicationdevice.

In the method of the first aspect, the caller identification options cancomprise pre-authenticated caller identification options.

The method of the first aspect can further comprise sending a callingparty personal identifier to a network entity, and receiving calleridentification options can comprise receiving caller identificationoptions associated with the calling party personal identifier subsequentto sending the calling party personal identifier.

The method of the first aspect can further comprise: receiving, from thenetwork at the first device, a challenge message; presenting thereceived challenge message to a caller at the first device; receivingfrom the caller at the first device a challenge response; and sending tothe network an indication of the challenge response.

The method of the first aspect can further comprise: sending a firstdevice identifier to the network from the first device; and receivingthe caller identification options from the network at the first devicesubsequent to sending the first device identifier to the network.

In the method of the first aspect, the caller identification options cancomprise multiple identities associated with a caller associated withthe first device.

In the method of the first aspect, presenting the received calleridentifications can comprise ordering the caller identification optionsbased on a calling party profile. The calling party profile can containat least one calling party data element selected from a group consistingof: calling party provided caller identification information; locationof the first device; time of day; presence information; and called partyinformation.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a first communicationdevice operable with a communication network to connect to a secondcommunication device. The first communication device comprises: atransmitter operable to initiate a call to the second communicationdevice over the communication network; a receiver operable to receivefrom the network caller identification options associated with the firstcommunication device; a caller presentation element operable to presentthe received caller identification options to a caller; an optionselection element operable to receive from the caller a selection of oneof the presented caller identification options; the transmitter beingfurther operable to send to the network an indication of the selectedcaller identification option to determine caller identificationinformation to present to the second communication device.

In the device of the second aspect, the caller identification optionscan comprise pre-authenticated caller identification options.

In the device of the second aspect, the transmitter can be furtheroperable to send a calling party personal identifier to a networkentity; and the receiver can be operable to receive calleridentification options associated with the calling party personalidentifier subsequent to the transmitter sending the calling partypersonal identifier.

In the device of the second aspect, the receiver can be operable toreceive from the network, a challenge message; the caller presentationelement can be operable to present the received challenge message to acaller at the first device; the option selection element can be operableto receive from the caller at the first device a challenge response; andthe transmitter can be operable to send to the network an indication ofthe challenge response.

In the device of the second aspect, the transmitter can be operable tosend a first device identifier to the network; and the receiver can beoperable to receive the caller identification options from the networksubsequent to the transmitter sending the first device identifier to thenetwork.

In the device of the second aspect, the caller identification optionscan comprise multiple identities associated with a caller associatedwith the first device.

In the device of the second aspect, presenting the received calleridentifications can comprise ordering the caller identification optionsbased on a calling party profile. The calling party profile can containsat least one calling party data element selected from a group consistingof: calling party provided caller identification information; locationof the first device; time of day; presence information; and called partyinformation.

Embodiments of the invention are applicable to existing TDM telephonysystems as well as to VoIP systems and other systems which offer orcould offer calling identification.

Note many voice mail systems can store the Caller ID information inorder to easily return a call. Therefore it is beneficial for theappropriate Caller ID information to be conveyed, not just for calldisposition purposes (i.e., so the recipient can decide whether toanswer), but for call return purposes.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparentto those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the followingdescription of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction withthe accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual drawing which illustrates an example, accordingto an embodiment of the invention, where each party to the call uses amanaged communications service.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual drawing which illustrates the same example,according to another embodiment of the invention, where externaladministrative entities are used for authentication purposes.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the steps executed by the callserver (with input from the user through an appropriate interface)according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, the present invention provides a system, method, andapparatus for managing the contextual information (e.g., calling-partyidentification) offered to called parties. This is accomplished byproviding a system which allows a calling party to designate thecontextual information (Context Info) to be conveyed to the calledparty. Typically the calling party does this by specifying a value to beused as the calling-party identification; a preferred embodiment willinclude a default or provisioned selection of alternative identifiers,with the calling party selecting which of multiple values they wish tohave sent with the call request. Preferred embodiments include anauthentication mechanism for validating the calling party information.

Existing Caller ID systems associate a default identity with theterminal or location. An embodiment of the invention introduces theability to implicitly associate multiple identities with a terminal orlocation (e.g. an executive's desk phone could be provisioned to offeras alternatives the executive's phone number, the number for theadministrative assistant, and the contact information for the companyswitchboard) any of which are selectable by the caller. In this case,the service provider or enterprise who administers the numbers orextensions has administrative control over the use of those numbers.

Identities can also be associated with the caller, who as discussed, mayserve in several different roles, and will want an Identity (Caller ID)for each role. The caller has access to these identities as well, whichare often independent of the Caller IDs associated with a given terminalor location, and can be administered by different domains. However, inorder to have the flexibility of allowing any caller to select theCaller ID from a given terminal, it is desirable to have anauthentication stage completed. This authentication involves supplyingsufficient information to establish the caller's right to the CallerIdentification information and can take various forms, including a PINcode on a cell phone, a challenge-response authentication in the case ofa SIP registration, or implicit authentication based on physical accessto the terminal (to a residence phone, to a device in a private office,to a cellular handset). Again, the service provider or enterpriseadministering these terminal devices and the caller's account hasadministrative control over these identities.

A caller may have the calling identification provisioned against theterminal, against the caller's profile, or can enter the desired callingidentification at the time the call is being placed. This identificationcan take the form, without restriction, of a numeric, alphanumeric,graphical, spoken, animated, visual or biometric identification; and canbe entered at the terminal or by reference using keypads, biometricdevices, and other input-output peripheral equipment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example, according to an embodiment of theinvention, where each party to the call uses a managed communicationsservice (e.g., the PSTN service; or a managed VoIP service). CallingParty 20, which uses a calling service administered by a calling server50 (which can be a TDM switch or a VoIP call server, or . . . ). TheCalling Party 20 calls the Called Party 120, which uses a callingservice administered by a calling server 150. Note the calling serversneed not be of the same type, or even be administered by the samenetwork. Conversely, both the Called Party 120 and the Calling Party 20can use the same Calling server. In this case, the entity that hasadministrative control over the calling-party's service (Call server 50)is responsible for performing the above authentication step. That entityeither has or establishes a trust relationship with the call server 150used by the called party 120. The calling-party's entity submits theselected calling-party identifier as part of the signaling for the callto the called-party's service-provider entity, and it is propagated tothe called party's terminal in a manner appropriate to that party'sservice and technology. Because the called party also has a trustrelationship with its own service provider, the trust chain ismaintained and the calling-party identification can be consideredrelatively reliable. The trusted relationship can be establisheddirectly between the call servers. This trusted relationship can beintrinsic, or negotiated.

As can be seen, in this example where the calling party is a physician,the calling party is provided with a plurality of previously authorizedidentities. The Calling party selects the identity appropriate for thecontext of the call (in this example Dr. X) which is then conveyed tothe called party.

FIG. 2 illustrates the use of an optional External Administrative Entity350, which provides authentication to both servers to provide thetrusted relationship 300. Such a system can use an externally-visibletrusted element for the authentication.

Embodiments of the invention can also allow callers to offer values ofcalling identification where the administrative control over thoseidentifiers does not reside with the provider or enterpriseadministering the communications service, but rather with otheragencies, firms, or services. An example, without restriction, of such asituation is that of a physician placing a call from their home office,and selecting the calling identification of the hospital to which theyhave admitting privileges. In this case, the service provider offeringthe communications service (the physician's home telephone serviceprovider) does not have administrative control over the callingidentification selected—this is held by the hospital. A validationmechanism is needed to authorize such use, as will be described in moredetail below.

Where the identity selected is not administered by the entity providingthe communications service, the communications service contacts theadministrative entity associated with the offered calling identifier toestablish the caller's authorization to employ that calling identifier.This contact can be made at the time of the call; or ahead of time and arecord of that authentication, optionally associated with a mechanismfor expiring that authentication, being associated with the caller'sprofile. The record may indicate that existing authentications aresufficient for use of this identifier; or alternatively, the record maytake the form of credentials used in a challenge-response exchange to beconducted with the calling party, or directions on the means, entities,and protocols to be used to perform a dynamic authentication action. Thecommunications service will facilitate the authentication function asdirected. Such a scenario is also illustrated in FIG. 2, in which CallServer 50 contacts an appropriate External Administrative Entity 200which authenticates the selected caller identifier for the calling party20. Note in this preferred embodiment, neither the Called Party 120 orits Call Server 150 needs to interact with the External AdministrativeEntity 200. Here, the Call Server 50 either has or establishes a trustrelationship with the called Party's Server 150—and this trust chain issufficient for the called party to accept that the authentication hasbeen properly conducted. Alternatively, in another preferred embodiment,either with or absent a trust relationship between the call servers, thecalling party's call server can forward confirmation of authorization insome form (one example without limitation being an assertion, token, orcertificate) which can be independently verified by the called party'scall server and/or the called party themselves. Note the FIG. 2 showsboth External Administrative Entity 200 and External AdministrativeEntity 350, for ease of illustration, and to clarify the differencesbetween them. However, it should be noted that one, both, or neitherentity can be used, based on the circumstances.

It is possible for either the calling or called party, or both, toperform communications services without a service provider (e.g. using aVoIP client). In such a case, no end-to-end trust chain exists. Where acalling party has no managed service provider to attest on its behalf,the called party can authenticate with the service entity of the calledparty. This may be done using digital signatures or other form ofthird-party attestation (e.g. involving a certificate authority) or byother means. The calling party authenticates with the administrativeentity that owns the selected identifier, and the calling party willsecure an attestation (which can take the form of a digital signature)which can be forwarded with the calling identifier (or be made availablein response to a request by the calling-party's administrative entity)to prove legitimacy of use of the calling identifier. The called party'sentity (or, where it exists, the called party's service provider callserver or proxy) can confirm the legitimacy of the use of the identifierby referring back to the offered certificate or back to the issuingparty.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the steps executed by the callserver (with input from the user) according to an embodiment of theinvention. First the calling party elects to place a call for 100 bydesignating a called party (callee) 410. This can take the form ofsimply entering a phone number associated with the callee. The callingparty then designates a Caller ID, for example by selecting from aCaller ID list. The retrieved list 420 can be provisioned in advance, orit can be based on criteria which can include any or all of the locationof the terminal used by the calling party, the time of day, the calledparty and the calling terminal or by a user ID entered by the callingparty. Note that the order the potential Caller IDs presented to theuser can differ, based on an estimation of which is the most likelyCaller ID to be selected, for example, based on presence information.For example, during a work day, a work related Caller ID may be morelikely to be selected than a personal Caller ID, and vice a versa forthe weekend. Note that if the subscriber subscribes to “presence”services, than these can be used in determining the order the Caller IDsare presented to the user. For example, if a doctor is in his clinic,and attempts to make a call from his cell phone, the clinic switch boardmay be presented above the default cell phone Caller ID, in order tomake it easier to select it.

The calling party then selects a Caller ID from the list, oralternatively will enter a value 430. The selected Caller ID isoptionally verified against policy for the callee, and if rejectedrefined Caller ID list 450 is provided to the calling party from whichto reselect.

If the call server 50 is part of service provider network which chargesfor the selectable Caller ID feature, then optionally it can confirm thesubscription or collect a pay per use service fee 460. Of course thisstep will not be necessary for an enterprise provider. Optionally, anexplicit authorization requirement check is made 470 which may lead toan authentication step 480 to determine that the calling party can usethe selected Caller ID according to policy. Note that a user'sauthentication may need to be established across multiple administrativedomains or IT systems. Assuming the authentication is successful 485 (orif no authentication is used) the call is originated using the selectedCaller ID 500, and optionally, the designated Caller ID is added to theCaller ID list if it was a newly entered value. If the authentication isnot successful at step 485 a policy exception step may be executed 495that logs the event and alerts the user who may reselect a Caller IDfrom a list or enter a new value. The called parties can optionallyvalidate the Caller ID tag with an external administrative entity 200 orwith the call server 50. Note such authentication may be implicit as inthe traditional directory number based on the PSTN physical plan.

Note for step 420 a policy engine can be queried which uses context,policy, and user direction to select the Caller ID to offer for thesession. Such a policy engine may be a separate entity or may form partof a call server 50, or may be implemented on a terminal device.

The operation of these functionalities is discussed in further detaillater herein. However, those of ordinary skill will recognize that thefeatures of these functionalities can be implemented using processinghardware and software, such as computers or microprocessors andcorresponding program and data memories. Such processors can beindividual local processors or can be implemented in a centralprocessor. Distributed processing techniques may also be used.Additionally, individual functions can be built in hard wired logic asmay be desirable for the system implementation. Thus, the systemaccording to the invention is not limited by the form of computer orprocessor construction, but can be implemented using any processingtechnique now known or later developed. Those of ordinary skill willrecognize that an call server according to the invention can beimplemented in a single processor or single unit or can be implementedin a plurality of units performing portions of the overall call serverfunctions. Thus aspects of the invention can be implemented in a callserver, telephony switch, or software for controlling either.Furthermore, portions of the invention can be implemented withinsoftware running on the terminal device.

For example, a terminal device can include software, executed on aprocessor for displaying a set of previously authorized Caller ID valuesto a caller, and receiving a selection from said caller of thedesignated Caller ID. Note that the set of previously authorized CallerIDs can be displayed based on an estimation of which is the most likelyCaller ID to be selected, based on any combination of context, policy,presence information and user direction. The terminal can then send thedesignated Caller ID to a call server (via the terminal's serviceprovider), which then determines the administrative entity which canauthenticate the designated Caller ID, authenticate the caller'spermission to use said Caller ID and then conveys the designated CallerID to the called party as part of call set up procedures. However, thisis but one example. The terminal can be pre-provisioned with a set ofmultiple Caller IDs, each of which has been previously approved. Inwhich case the authentication step is effectively done in advance.

Embodiments of the invention may be represented as a software productstored on a machine-readable medium (also referred to as acomputer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computerusable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein).the machine-readable medium may be any type of magnetic, optical, orelectrical storage medium including a diskette, compact disk read onlymemory (CD-ROM), memory device (volatile or non-volatile), or similarstorage mechanism. The machine-readable medium may contain various setsof instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or otherdata. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that otherinstructions and operations necessary to implement the describedinvention may also be stored on the machine-readable medium. Softwarerunning from the machine readable medium may interface with circuitry toperform the described tasks.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended tobe examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may beeffected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the artwithout departing from the scope of the invention, which is definedsolely by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication terminal, comprising: a pluralityof distinct identifiers; and a user interface configured to enable auser to select one of the distinct identifiers to be used in requestinga communication session such that caller identification associated withthe communication session corresponds to the selected distinctidentifier.
 2. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein theplurality of distinct identifiers are pre-provisioned.
 3. Thecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of distinctidentifiers are stored at the communication terminal.
 4. Thecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of distinctidentifiers comprise a default identifier to be used unless a user ofthe communication terminal selects another of the plurality of distinctidentifiers.
 5. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein thecommunication terminal is adapted to determine a current location of theterminal and to determine a current default identifier based on thecurrent location of the terminal.
 6. The communication terminal of claim1, wherein the user interface is further configured to present thedistinct identifiers to a user of communication terminal to enable theuser to select one of the distinct identifiers for a currentcommunication session.
 7. The communication terminal of claim 1, whereinthe distinct identifiers are associated with respective calleridentification options.
 8. The communication terminal of claim 7,wherein a plurality of caller identification options are associated withdifferent roles of the user of the communication terminal.
 9. Thecommunication terminal of claim 7, wherein a plurality of calleridentification options are associated with different users of thecommunication terminal.
 10. The communication terminal of claim 1,wherein the distinct identifiers are pre-authenticated.
 11. Thecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein the caller distinctidentifiers are pre-authorized.
 12. The communication terminal of claim1, wherein the user interface is further configured to authenticate theuser before sending the caller identification selection signal to thecommunication network entity.
 13. The communication terminal of claim 1,wherein the user interface is further configured to present theplurality of distinct identifiers to the user to enable the user toselect one of the distinct identifiers.
 14. The communication terminalof claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to authenticate theuser before presenting the plurality of distinct identifiers to the userof the communication terminal.
 15. The communication terminal of claim14, wherein the caller identification options presented to the user ofthe communication terminal are based on the authentication of the user.